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February 23, 2014

IVF and Side Effects

First of all, let me say that if you are not doing IVF, thinking of doing IVF, etc., there is little point in reading this post. Some of it will be TMI, and some of it will be boring. Just a little disclaimer. I'm only sharing because these are the kinds of posts I'm finding really helpful on other people's blogs.

Side effects I'm dealing with during IVFHot Flashes- This one I expected because I had similar issues on Clomid. They actually aren't even as bad as they were on the clomid.

Headaches- I've had a headache almost consistently for the past three or four days. Some moments were really bad, most were tolerable. This is a common side effect during IVF. However, tension headaches are pretty normal for me and the weather has been pretty up and down lately, so they could be totally unrelated to my meds.

Thirst- I am so thirsty all the time. Constantly. To the point that while out with my family Friday night, my mom said, "Boy, you really are thirsty all the time." I guess this isn't really a bad side effect to be dealing with except that teaching isn't really conducive to all of the peeing that comes with all of this drinking.

Weight gain- I've gained four pounds since starting the stimulating meds. Some of this is due to the meds and what they do, but I'm sure some is because I've been eating a ton because I'm also dealing with...

Hunger- Because of the steroid I'm also on, I'm hungry. Like, I'm constantly thinking of the next thing I could be eating. Food literally calls to me. I've been trying to be careful with the quality of what I'm eating. For example, last night I was craving dessert, so I made cinnamon rolls with whole wheat flour and sucanat, in an attempt to lower their glycemic index. Sometimes I'm not very good at all, as in eating cupcakes that I keep finding in the teacher's lounge (apparently we're in a big birthday flood right now). I'm still trying to cut out gluten when I can and use as many quality and organic ingredients, but I'm not always succeeding.

Bloating- This isn't severe, at least not sever enough for me to be afraid of hyper stimulation, but it's uncomfortable. Anything I eat makes me feel bloated. For example, Saturday I ate a whole wheat English muffin and a banana for breakfast, and I was bloated as if I had eaten an enormous meal for about four hours afterward. I did use this as an excuse to buy myself two skirts, a gray jersey maxi skirt from Walmart this striped jersey skirt from Target. It's comes a little bit below my knees and is cut kind of like a pencil skirt. The nice thing is, both skirts could easily be used into pregnancy because they're super stretchy and comfy.

Tenderness- This one is probably way too much information, but I have some pretty significant breast tenderness. My belly is also slightly tender from the injections.

Bruising- This one is pretty obvious, but some of the injections leaver bruises on my belly. I've only for a couple, and none of them are major, but between that and some of the little puncture marks from the needles, my belly looks like like a connect the dots.

Mood Swings- It's very difficult for me to tell you if I've been experiencing these. Earlier this week I was pretty weepy, but I was also super stressed out because of circumstances. Now that things are normal, I'm not feeling any out of the ordinary emotions. If I am experiencing mood swings, they are very mild.